this weekend - babies and deer

This weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my closest and oldest friends, Amanda Hands. My mom and Amanda's mom are good friends and have known each other since before Amanda's mom and dad got married. So Amanda and I grew up together and have known each other since she was born. I can actually still remember a time when I was little and she was following me around in her walker in my mom's kitchen. I must have been younger than 3 and Amanda less than 1!

A picture of us from long ago... I was
3 1/2 and Amanda 18 months.

Here are a few pictures from the shower...

Amanda and the hostesses (my mom, Lane Bitterlin and I)

The game involved guessing Amanda's current waistline!

Lane provided the cutest baby themed

Christmas decorations.

Nyla helped herself to the "pretend" gifts under

one of the church's Christmas trees.

My mom, Nyla and I

Several ladies at the shower asked me if Tyler was out hunting deer. I said that he wasn't, that he was finishing up some baling, but then about noon I got a text message that he shot a 10-pointer! He did get done with the baling too though... finally. :)

We thought this deer had a somewhat unique rack and by his body, he appears to be rather old. May not be quite as tasty as the doe that Tyler got! He shot this deer with his rifle, which reminded him how much more exciting bow hunting is than rifle hunting. He thought shooting the doe with his bow was more exciting than this buck with his rifle. Regardless, he can now move his focus back to the birds!

Maybe an odd combination of subjects for this posting, but this is the story of our life!